Fashion Through Time – 1930′s

It has been awhile but fashion through time is back and this month we are focusing on the fashion of the 1930’s with a historical emphasis on the impact of the dust bowl on farmers. When researching for this time period the only fashion one could really find is the clothing of the wealthy. Which is interesting since the great depression had a major gap between the rich and the poor that only got worse throughout these dark years. So you would assume there would be more photographs of the poor but unfortunately this wasn’t the case.

Due to the stock market crashing, unemployment sky rocketed and people being left without jobs or homeless. It was a dark time in America, but not just for the urban population of Americans, but for the farmers as well. It was already bad enough that the economy was collapsing, but in addition to this, no crop rotation, bad farming methods, overgrazing from cows and a previous drought made for dead crops and no income for farmers.

In addition to these coincidental bad occurrences, many migrated to these parts because they believed that a previous period of rain would bring better crops. These rains wouldn’t return and those who bought land and migrated to these parts were left with bad soil. A combination of all of the farmer malpractices for soil saw the wave of the dust bowl. Anyone who lives in Arizona can vouch for dust storms where great waves of dust overcome the city leaving dirt covering everything and the taste of sand in the mouth if you stay in it for too long. During the Great Dust Bowl the clouds of dust were so great that many referred to them as “black blizzards”.

Set in the midst of this depressing and desolate time to those who lived within it and the fashion they could afford to wear. Many poor women had only a few dresses in their possession and had to make do with what they had. With this, clothing was simple and plain consisting of a plain dress, stockings and shoes. Most clothing was sewn at home and then passed down through each of the children as they grew into it.

Fashion through time this month saw a return to a more simplistic approach through the eyes of 1930’s fashion. The three dresses we used were borrowed from Antique Plaza in Downtown Mesa located on Main street. We chose dresses with a more “country” feel to them with a loose but feminine fit. The brown and the black dresses are actual pieces from the 1930’s which we were lucky enough to use! The second dress has a very cute yet farm feel to it that can easily be updated by making it shorter and pairing it with black stockings or whatever your preference is. This one is my favorite look since it can be incorporated into a very vintage indie style.

The third dress is another vintage dress that salutes the Wizard of Oz and the longing that Dorothy has to leave her dark and dirty world into something better. Several of the photos reflect this attitude with a fashion edge to it with a girl who wants to go beyond the dusty and depressive world she has been born into. The make up we kept very simple with a lipstick shade from L’oreal called Rosedew. This shade can be subtle as well as striking and fit well with the depression era of a natural yet rosy lip color. The hair was kept free and simple with some of the hair pulled back into a twist with a 1930’s flair to it as it is pulled back to show the ear. I thought the free and flowing hair went nicely with the style of the dresses and gave a vintage yet updated look that can be manipulated to be more modern to each person’s taste. Thank you for reading this month’s Fashion through time and I hope you stop by again next month!

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Written by Tara Hutchison

Modeled by Christina Silvestri

Photos by Larry Stone of 12 North Photography

Hair and Makeup by Tara Hutchison

Authentic Clothing Provided By – Antique Plaza

Fashion Through Time – 1960′s

When we think of the sixties we think perhaps of Austin Powers and his psychedelic fashion, or maybe about the sometimes horribly put together hippy costumes for Halloween.  But for this post we will discuss the other side of the sixties, the sophisticated and “too good to even look at the camera” attitude that people such as Bridgette Bardot or Ursula Andres had that captured audience’s admiration for decades to come. 

John F. Kennedy said it best when he described his time by saying: “We stand today on the edge of a new frontier — the frontier of the 1960s, a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats. The new frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises — it is a set of challenges.” And challenges it would be. From college revolutions and space travel to protestors of Vietnam, the sixties brought about a wild decade that we could never forget. New trails of thought for the century began emerging such as free love, eastern ideas, vegan lifestyle, romanticism and poetry. But none stand out more than the fashion it manifested from ideas of various groups being expressed. Even in the presidential election, the candidate’s wives competed for best dressed and as the decade progressed even men began to don the more “fancy” styles.

Sixties fashion was able to bring in a whole new look for young people that contrasted sharply with the Mad Men/Jackie Kennedy style. Boutiques began popping up with clothes that fit a more “mod” look with cheaper prices. They offered everything from the colored tights, to the mini skirt. Neon colors were all the rage with ever shortening hemlines (even for kids), the use of leather, and boots.  

Fashion reflected the times as obviously as the movie stars that people admired. We can go on for pages discussing the differences between go-go dancers and socialites. But the particular fashion this month, which happens to be my favorite, will reflect the other side of the sixties that has been recently brought back into the limelight. This is the free-flowing bed hair, the subtle cat eye make up, the short dresses and sex kitten attitude immortalized by the ever beautiful Bridgette Bardot whom we mentioned earlier. This look can be easily transitioned into our fashion today. Big flowing curls and chic yet sexy wardrobe will raise numerous eyebrows. This look is all about big hair in any style that can be done with or without bangs and light lips with dark eyes. For this shoot we wanted the model to look unreal, almost like a doll or a mannequin. This would bring out the Twiggy-like sixties attitude with a sex kitten twist.

Our make up artist Ashley recreated the cat eye make up. It is done by using a medium to light brown eye shadow only on the brow bone and thick black eyeliner into a slight cat eye followed by a light color on the lid. It isn’t overdone, but subtle and enough change to where the make up gives the face a fresh and colorful look. The lips and cheeks are both a light pink that reflects a 60’s Mod look. The make up is topped off by adding fake eyelashes and a lot of mascara!

The hair is teased and teased with hair spray before and after back combing. It is then curled with a large barrel iron and the curls are pinned to the head so they can stay curled as long as possible. After this the hair is let down and sprayed. For the up do, it was curled, teased and pulled up using most of the hair except for a few front chunks into a ponytail. The curls in the ponytail were brought forward and pinned to the head. The remaining pieces were brought up and pinned with two long curled pieces left.

The short mini dresses have made a comeback in all styles and for this shoot we incorporated this in both looks. It looks great with flats or boots, but we added more sixty’s character to the style with black knee highs. Not only is this look incredibly girly, but it makes you look naturally beautiful with big free-flowing hair and retro chic make up.

That’s it for this months “Fashion Through Time” I hope you enjoyed it and if you missed last months you can see it by following the link below! As always if you’re a fan of this blog please subscribe and be sure to share this page on facebook with all of your friends! We would also like to give a very special thanks to the DeCesare Design Group for allowing us to use their beautiful location!  Thank you all for reading!

Written by Tara Hutchison

Modeled by  Rachel Hutchison

Photos by Larry Stone of 12 North Photography

Hair and Makeup by Ashley Christine

Location Provided by: DeCesare Design Group – www.decesaredesigngroup.com

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Fashion Through Time – 1920′s

Fashion Through Time is a monthly article written by 12 North Photography’s own historian Tara Hutchison. Join Tara as she takes you on a journey back in time to revisit some of history’s greatest fashions and shows you ways that you can apply them to your every day look. In this the first edition of Fashion Through Time Tara takes you back to the 1920′s with the help of Hair and Makeup Artist Ashley Christine and local Model Alannah Coley to create the look seen in the photos through out.

The free-spirited 1920’s: A time of sports cars, shorter hemlines, silent films, jazz, bobs, fur coats and freeing political restraints on women. World War I had ended, women had the right to vote and youth threw away the stiff and confining fashions of the corsets and bustles into an age that led the way for fashion today. This era was a releasing of previous tensions that left older generations shocked and un-approving. The length of women’s bathing suits was measured to make sure they weren’t too short and some wives were chided by their husbands for cutting their hair short. It was a time of emancipations. Try as society might to stop this explosion of culture, it could not be quieted. Adolph I. Klein comments on the significance of historical fashion by saying: “A sense of the past is as much a part of fashion as the latest cable from the Paris collections. And History’s doctrine of recurrency has never been better illustrated than in the annals of fashion.”

Current fashion is opening up to an array of styles ranging from steam punk of the late 1800’s to the 70’s. This gives us a huge pallet to work from to vary our looks so we don’t stick with the same old boring trend day after day. A lot of trends today reflect twenties fashion such as: flowers in the hair, cardigans, waist skirts, shoes, headbands placed around the forehead for the “hippy look”, and the variation of the bob (look at Kiera Knightly).

I decided to recreate a modern edgy depiction of 1920’s fashion to start off this monthly column posting on Historical Fashion. This look has a very flapper look mimicking the seductive style of Louis Brooks and Clara Bow. Women of this era had an allure that can be recreated to expand your fashion pallet. This included the big round eyes, short bobbed hair, the sultry make up, and messy pulled back hair. In the picture taken by Larry we went for a silent film starlet combined with modern semi-twenties clothes.

The make up is a twist on the twenties but made edgy by bringing the eye shadow into the corners of the eyes using black and purple. For the eyeliner, try to not to line the inside of the lower lid to make the eyes bigger and more dramatic. The hair is curled and pulled back in a loose bun with tendrils coming down to frame the face and to give the model a more classic look. You can pin the hair back using bobby pins and criss-crossing them as you apply to insure it stays secured! You can do a headband around the head with the hair down and wavy or a flower in the hair in many variations.

After putting this look together you are now a classic yet modern hottie who gave a twist to beauty! This look not only reflects how modern fashion is reverting to classic trends (look at the fashion magazines and all of the 60’s hair and make up!) but gives light to the silent film era and proves how fashion reflects history.  

Written by Tara Hutchison

Modeled by  Alannah Coley

Photos by Larry Stone of 12 North Photography

Hair and Makeup by Ashley Christine

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